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meta¹

  • /ˈmɛtə/ UK
  • /ˈmɛtə/ US
  • [ˈmɛɾə] US

Rhymes with -ɛtə

Where it comes from

Etymology 1, adjective sense 1 is a back-formation from meta- (prefix).

Etymology 1, adjective sense 2 is derived from noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.

The noun senses are clippings of various terms beginning with meta (prefix).

Folk etymology for noun etymology 1, noun sense 1 also suggests an acronym for most effective/efficient tactic available.

noun metas

  1. abbreviation, clipping Clipping of metagame I don't think the character will be part of the meta even with the recent buffs.
  2. Internet, broadly, countable An informal but widely adopted practice in a given field; a de facto standard. Each video sharing platform's community has a meta on how long videos should be.
  3. abbreviation, clipping, informal Clipping of metaoidioplasty
  4. abbreviation, clipping, informal Clipping of metamour
  5. abbreviation, clipping, slang Clipping of metanalysis: metanalysis or metacommentary focused on media, fandom, or related topics, typically presented as an essay or dialogue. Many metas on Tumblr incorporate GIFs of scenes they are referencing as well as screencaps.

adjective more meta · most meta

  1. informal Self-referential; structured analogously (structured by relationships), but at a higher level. Suppose you have a genie that grants you three wishes. If you wish for infinite wishes, that is a meta wish.
  2. Prominent in the metagame; effective and frequently used in competitive gameplay. I don't think the character will be meta even with the recent buffs.

meta²

  • /ˈmiːtə/ UK
  • /ˈmiːtə/ US
  • [ˈmiːɾə] US

Rhymes with -iːtə

Where it comes from

From Latin mēta.

noun metas · metae

  1. Boundary marker.
  2. historical Either of the conical columns at each end of an Ancient Roman circus.

Meta³

Where it comes from

The technology conglomerate is named for its connotative evocation of the idea of the metaverse, the research tool after metascience.

proper noun

  1. Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly Facebook, Inc. (until late 2021): an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company that is the parent organization of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, among other subsidiaries.
  2. historical Meta, a biomedical research discovery tool.

Meta⁴

Where it comes from

Named after Meta Schreifer, the sister of a railroad official, from German Meta.

proper noun

  1. A city in Osage County, Missouri.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: objective, benchmark, vision, destination, purpose, deadline, goal, metadata, finishing, finish, end, prize, retreat, dead, targeted, cast

Translations

Every language

adj self-referential

Españolmetaconceptual
Françaisméta

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Cite this
MLA

"meta." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/meta. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

meta. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/meta

Chicago

"meta." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/meta.

BibTeX
@misc{meta_2026,
  title = {meta},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/meta},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}